Posted: Wed 09 Dec 2009, 23:26 Post subject:
Hassle-Free RoxappsSubject description: Apps that can easily be added to and run in your puppy from anywhere

While i started using roxapps as a method of testing my new apps before copying them into my system directories, it became clear to me that it was much more convenient to just run them from where they were. It was there, that I would place all my dependencies and from there that I would create links to folders that were expected to be found in the system directories. The trouble was, that the application directories would get quite fat and with symlinks, they would never copy correctly to a vfat or other windoze filesystem. That is when I decided to put the finished product into a squashfs and mount it at startup. I figured it would also be a clever way of distributing these apps too. I have been saying right along, that one thing that really turns windoze users off from linux is that adding apps can be a real hassle. I have rarely added software to any linux distribution and not have to download more dependencies. It really sucks when you do not have an internet connection and have to download elsewhere. But rather than complain about it, I thought I would actually do something about it.

I now have "Hassle-free" roxapps. These apps contain all dependencies and some will even install OpenGL if needed. They are packaged into squash file systems that are mounted at startup to save space and allow execution from any file system. They will export all paths, and symlink any files or directories that belong in system directories, as well as remove them and unmount when the program is closed. I have tar.gz'd each app, so its as easy as 1. download, 2. extract, and 3. execute. That's all there is to it. No downloading dependencies, no looking for files that are no longer available where you once thought they were, no hassles. This is so easy, a 'doze user would probably think it was too easy.

Pupgeek, may I suggest that you edit your original post to include an index of available roxapps, with a short description of what each is for? A lot of beginners might try a program if they only knew what it was for, and their names usually don't give a clue.

I just ran Scribus and found the crash..... I think it might need an importer... I'm just not sure how to put one in at this time.... I might have experienced this before too, come to think of it. Thank you for the reminder dingo, I will have to work on this one. And not to brush you off, but if you are in a hurry to get something done, copy and paste should not have any problems, last I remember.

One item - I downloaded the Freeciv app, started it, and nothing happened. After checking out the Freeciv SFS file, it turned out that the SFS file was made with the older SFS format, so that it won't work in the puppy 43x series.

You may want to consider some SFS version checking in the AppRun to alert the user, if it's the wrong format.

I have done the same thing with Seamonkey2, Firefox 3.5* and Opera as I find it the easiest way to keep control of the installs, esp if I want to delete them. I have noticed they load a little more slowly when set up this way though._________________Spup Frugal HD and USB
Root forever!

Bonjour à tous,
It's excellent.
On 4.31, i tried Gimp, and i had to convert sfs file from version 3 to version 4.
Are all of them in squash version 3?
Cordialement _________________Toutou Linux - Pets francisés

Joined: 11 Dec 2007Posts: 1433Location: somewhere at the end of rainbow...

Posted: Fri 11 Dec 2009, 08:05 Post subject:

PupGeek wrote:

I just ran Scribus and found the crash..... I think it might need an importer... I'm just not sure how to put one in at this time.... I might have experienced this before too, come to think of it. Thank you for the reminder dingo, I will have to work on this one. And not to brush you off, but if you are in a hurry to get something done, copy and paste should not have any problems, last I remember.

Yes, copy & paste works, but import feature is really needed, without ability to import, it is not possible to preserve assigned paragraph styles from source doc, let imagine we want make a dictionary, we have entries in bold UPPERCASE and definitions in regular font style, without import feature, we must re-apply manually same style 100 or 1000 or 10000 times!!

I just ran Scribus and found the crash..... I think it might need an importer... I'm just not sure how to put one in at this time.... I might have experienced this before too, come to think of it. Thank you for the reminder dingo, I will have to work on this one. And not to brush you off, but if you are in a hurry to get something done, copy and paste should not have any problems, last I remember.

Yes, copy & paste works, but import feature is really needed, without ability to import, it is not possible to preserve assigned paragraph styles from source doc, let imagine we want make a dictionary, we have entries in bold UPPERCASE and definitions in regular font style, without import feature, we must re-apply manually same style 100 or 1000 or 10000 times!!

oh I got ya and I definitely intend to work on this problem. As of right now, I was just playing around with it and it seems I neglected to make a link a directory in the $APPDIR/lib to /usr/lib... I will bring up the uploaded app and check it and will post a follow-up when i come to a solution.

Ok this is one of my earlier hassle free roxapps (a beta version lets say -- come to think of it, an alpha version, as it is my very first one) I have updated my AppRun script to link an additional directory. In order to get text from MS word documents, you will need an app called antiword, according to Scribus' documentation pages

You can compare your AppRun script to the one shown here:

Code:

#!/bin/sh

# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
# (at your option) any later version.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston,
# MA 02110-1301, USA.

# This script will mount a squashfs containing Scribus.
# During execution, some symlinks will have to be created on your Linux installation and will be removed upon exit

# Create symlinks to program directories in your linux distribution
# These links will be removed upon exit
ln -s $SCRIBUSDIR/usr/share/scribus /usr/share
ln -s $SCRIBUSDIR/usr/lib/scribus /usr/lib # This is missing in the uploaded version

# Finally executes the program
$SCRIBUSDIR/usr/bin/scribus

# Remove links created, unmounts and removes the directory created in /mnt
rm /usr/share/scribus
rm /usr/lib/scribus # This is missing in the uploaded version
umount $SCRIBUSDIR
rmdir $SCRIBUSDIR

I will repackage and reupload the app again when I can get all the bugs worked out but you can make the changes reflected in the script above in the meantime. Also, I intend to look into getting this "Antiword" app and including it in my revision. And if any more bugs are found, please be sure to let me know.

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